GEOFF SCHUMACHER'S LAS VEGAS

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Schumacher Literary Hall of Fame

Here is a list of fiction writers who are among my personal favorites (with a representative book listed alongside). These are not the usual suspects, but some of the lesser-known writers I like. Richard Yates, "Revolutionary Road"; John Fante, "Ask the Dust"; Nelson Algren, "The Man with the Golden Arm"; Frederick Exley, "A Fan's Notes"; Charles Portis, "The Dog of the South"; John Williams, "Stoner"; Patrick Hamilton, "Hangover Square"; Richard Russo, "Empire Falls"; Richard Ford, "The Sportswriter"; Don DeLillo, "White Noise"; Jim Harrison, "True North"; Raymond Carver, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?"; Willy Vlautin, "The Motel Life"; Michael Chabon, "The Wonder Boys"; Ian McEwan, "Atonement"; Colson Whitehead, "John Henry Days"; Orhan Pamuk, "Snow"; Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"; Avram Davidson, "Vergil in Averno"

Recent reading: recommended fiction

The Secret of Lost Things (2006), Sheridan Hay; Absurdistan (2006), Gary Shteyngart; Five Skies (2007), Ron Carlson; Citizen Vince (2005), Jess Walter; On Chesil Beach (2007), Ian McEwan; We're in Trouble (2005), Christopher Coake; Returning to Earth (2007), Jim Harrison; The Lay of the Land (2006), Richard Ford

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Geoff Schumacher

What's a dogsbody?

It's British slang for "a worker who has to do all the unpleasant or boring jobs that no one else wants to do."

November 2005



Half a loaf

Tue, 11/29/05 8:23 A GMT-08
Rep. Randy Cunningham, R-Calif., resigned Monday after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Cunningham got all kinds of expensive gifts in return for votes as a member of a House Appropriations subcommittee. He i
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Ban popcorn in movie theaters

Sat, 11/19/05 2:59 P GMT-08
Yeah, I know eating popcorn is an old tradition at the movies, but people often are incredibly loud and rude when eating it. Last night, during the excellent "Walk the Line," some old jerk in front of us was scavenging around in his giant bag of popc
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Fante again

Tue, 11/15/05 8:38 A GMT-08
Let's just go for it: John Fante is my favorite novelist. I have read nearly all of his published works now and they are consistently well-written, entertaining and thoughtful. I just finished "Brotherhood of the Grape," which is one of his better no

American Experience documentary on Vegas

Sun, 11/13/05 8:18 P GMT-08
Here's a tip: The two-part documentary, airing tonight and Tuesday night on PBS, is very good. Some local historians have expressed unhappiness with the film, but perhaps they were too close to the project or too close to the subject matter. It's aki
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Kansas, California and beyond

Wed, 11/09/05 7:33 A GMT-08
The Kansas Board of Education approved new "science" standards yesterday that question evolution and allow the introduction of creationism and "intelligent design" into the curriculum. Sane board member Janet Waugh said this: "This is a sad day. We'r

Two great journalism movies

Tue, 11/08/05 8:26 A GMT-08
I've recently seen "Capote" and "Good Night, and Good Luck" and both are excellent, especially if you are a journalist. "Capote" effectively captures the period in the early ’60s when Truman Capote was a New Yorker staffer reporting and writing the

Recommended: Tod Goldberg's "Simplify"

Mon, 11/07/05 8:21 A GMT-08
Tod Goldberg wrote a weekly column for me in the Las Vegas Mercury for four years. It was, to overly generalize, a humorous take on Gen X adulthood. And if you spend any time with Goldberg, you quickly learn that the column's humor was an extension o

ANWR on Page 14

Fri, 11/04/05 8:28 A GMT-08
Lots going on in the news these days, but is U.S. Senate approval of oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge really only deserving of Page 14 in the morning paper? Critics of the proposal had been able to block it for more than 10 years,